IntrigueCon, a History in Buttons: Part 2

IntrigueCon, a History in Buttons: Part 2

IntrigueCon 2014In our second year Lansdowne Hall was undergoing a major renovation which meant that we had to find a new venue. We settled for Brookside Community League Hall. The event took place October 24-25 2014 with an attendance of 40.

Asking everyone in attendance to contribute worked, and we almost broke even, going in the hole to the tune of the cost of the complimentary coffee we provided (a generous attendee insisted on buying the tea bags we tried to give them!).

2014 also marked the first year we had buttons, and there were four:

Original 31This was our first button, even though we handed it out in our second year. If you see someone wearing one of these it means they were one of the 31 attendees at the very first IntrigueCon; one the Original 31.

2014 AttendeeYou’ll notice that even though 2014 was the second year of the con centre of the button reads “1”. Because we put the first con together very quickly as a proof of concept the first con was actually called IntrigueCon 0.1.

2014 GMAlthough we’re firm believers that Game Masters run games because they want to run games we still try to do a little something extra to recognise our GMs. In 2014, and beyond, one of those things has been a button exclusively for everyone that runs a game.

All StarSince 2014, this button has been awarded to folks who’ve gone over and above to help make the con better for everyone. Whether it be hanging around after the con to help clean the venue, doing promotional work, or coming to our rescue in many and varied ways, these people are ICon All Stars.

IntrigueCon 20152015 saw the convention return to the newly renovated Lansdowne Community Hall. Now a much bigger and state-of-the-art building our attendance swelled to 60 people and ran from October 16-18.

2015 AttendeeA third year attendance button with only a two in the middle…? What is this witchcraft? We consider 2014 our first proper year of the con hence the “2”.

2015 GMAwarded to people who ran games at IntrigueCon 2 in 2015. There was a lot of back and forth over this button. I guess we, uncharacteristically, had a bit of time on our hands. Anyway, in my head the button represented the face of a king.

You be the judge…

2015 Hat TrickThis button went to everyone who completed a “hat trick” of IntrigueCons. As it was only the third year of our existence it went to people who’d been to the first three cons.

The rejected version had three bullet holes.

2015 Full XP Bar2015 was the first year the convention ran for three days: Friday through Sunday. So to recognise attendees that signed up and played, or ran, a game in every session we awarded them with the “full xp bar” button. We didn’t keep track of exactly how many of these were issued, but a surprising number of attendees came out for the whole shooting match. The four sections of the bar represent the four sessions, but there were five, and we won’t dwell on that… moving along.

SſtabmontownOne of the fixtures of IntrigueCon is Sſtabmontown, a brutal, but fun, Old School Dungeons & Dragons game run by Adam Waldron-Blaine. At some point every IConner worth their salt should play it. When you do, you get the #sstabz button to show you’ve had your mettle tested, and met the challenge!

Fun fact! There was actually an IntrigueCon 0.5 which consisted of about ten of us getting together in April 2014, playing Sſtabmontown, and making plans for the event that would become IntrigueCon 1 that October.